Social media is a great way to interact with others who share similar interests. But do you know how to protect yourself from social media abuse?
Millions of people use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn to socialize or exchange professional experiences. But most of the time, we do not know our social media network personally. We tend to think they are the same people as they seem in their profile picture or bio. But sometimes it does not work this way.
It is easy to hide one’s identity on these platforms. There are too many accounts with fake profiles. Such accounts abuse social media for their own interests. You have to protect yourself from abuse on social media platforms.
10 tips to help you protect yourself and your family from irresponsible use of social media.
#1 Abusive users try to bait you with spam links. The easiest way for them is to send you a direct message. You can change your privacy settings and block receiving messages from accounts that do not follow you or you do not follow.
#2 Do not click on links from untrustworthy accounts. Be sure to check their profile first. Otherwise, your social media account may be hacked.
#3 A private account could protect you more, but makes it difficult to grow your social media account. But if your child has a social media account, be sure that it is a private account. Your children should know that they can only accept friend requests from people they know.
#4 If you are not selling a product or service, do not share personal info like your address or phone number, or email address. Spammers could use this information to send you malicious links. If you receive such suspicious emails, do not click on the links.
#5 Do not buy fake followers. Fake followers do not interact with you. Purchasing followers means nothing but increasing your follower count. They do not increase your influence rate. Would you want to have 2000 followers but only 2 likes for a post?
#6 Do not use applications that claim to sell you followers. You can use social media tools like Soaster to boost your account naturally.
#7 Be aware of spam accounts since social media platforms are abused by them. Most of the time, spam accounts do not have a profile picture or they do not tweet. From time to time, check out the accounts that you are following and get rid of such noxious accounts.
#8 If you face malicious behavior from an account, just block it. It can no longer interact with you.
#9 Another option is to report abuse to your social media platform. Thus, the platform may take action against that account.
#10 If you want to stay away from harmful content, especially for your family, you can use family-friendly social media applications like Wowso.
You should be alert when using social media platforms. It is vital to double check the accounts that begin following you and sending direct messages.
You are also responsible for your family. You should think twice if you are sharing photos of your children. Keep yourself and your family from the negative consequences of irresponsible use of social media.
